Easy ideas for bringing people together

Volunteer Recruitment & Engagement Ideas

Volunteers give from the heart - but it never hurts to have a little incentive too, once in a while. Check out these easy 8 volunteer incentives that could help your school or nonprofit boost turnout today!

1. Food: Volunteers won't necessarily show up just for the food, but they sure will remember snacks and drinks were provided. Whether it's icey lemonade shared with volunteers during the hot festival hours, or coffee and donuts for an early morning volunteer project, simple food and beverage is a great way for volunteers to commune and bond, and shows your organization is putting in the extra effort.

2. Complimentary Access: Recruiting volunteers for a festival, conference, fair or concert series? Complimentary access, free admission and/or a chance to win tickets is a great way to encourage more folks to help out with your event.

3. Swag: It's almost commonplace, but a simple knick knack or token (think key chains and pens all the way up to reusable water bottles and t-shirts) are a fun way to incentivize volunteers. Ask a local vendor to donate them, or work 'volunteer swag bags' into the budget for your next big event.

4. Time-saving sign-ups and scheduling.Do your volunteers get bogged down in 'reply-all' emails and last-minute phone calls? The best way to encourage volunteers to get involved quick and easy is to streamline the scheduling process with free online sign-ups with reminders. Mobile, 24/7 access, eCalendar syncing, and automated email reminders make it easy for volunteers to stay on task and encourage them to return regularly to help out. Get started

5. Credit: "Volunteer dollars" or credits towards the Book Fair, Rummage Sale, Benefit Auction, etc. entices volunteers, not just to help out, but to put in extra hours too!

6. Community Coupons: Promotions and coupons to local restaurants, movie theaters, retailers, you name it are a great way to both thank volunteers and encourage them to sign up to help in the first place. Connect with vendors in the region with a simple phone call asking if they are interested in supporting volunteers for your event.

7. Fundraising Goals: Fun volunteer and donor incentives include fundraising goals where a specific event or action will take place if a certain amount of money is raised. Duct-taping teachers and staff to walls is a favorite for elementary schools, while non-profits can shoot for pie-ing their founder in the face at the annual carnival or watching them shave their head for the charity.

8. Kudos:Knowing you're appreciated, and even publicly so, is great fuel for volunteers to return and stay loyal to your organization. Kudos as simple as shout-outs on facebook, twitter, and your group's website is an easy place to start. Tag your volunteers' social handles where possible, post photos and ask for their own testimonials and quotes to be shared too.

Benefit Auction Ideas

Here's a conversation that will crop up with a few of my clients each year.

"Sherry, can we set opening bids? This item is worth $2500 and that’s worth $1000. Where are you going to start the bidding?"

"It doesn’t matter where I start the bidding,” I’ll counter. “It matters where I FINISH the bidding.”

Isn’t that true?! Think about the auction you planned last year. My guess is that you remember a few of the item sales. If something sold exceptionally high, you might first recall that item’s sale price. Conversely, if an item sold poorly, you might recall that lower final sale, too.

But do you remember what the opening bid was on those items? Probably not. That’s because at auctions, bidders and donors recall the final sale price of the item, but not the opening bid.

"That vacation sold for $4500," one will say. Another adds, "I couldn't believe it when she sold that dinner for $2000!" No one says, "I can't believe that item started at $500!"

No one says that because no one notices the first number. They notice the last number; the final price.

To a degree, I understand the auction planner's sentiment. If you're responsible for planning an event, there may be a desire to control as much as possible to ensure the gala flows as intended. It’s natural for you to ask the question, because there may be a belief that a higher opening bid will equate to a higher closing bid. (It doesn’t.)

But consider this: shouldn’t the professionals manage their respective roles? Once you’ve hired an excellent caterer, I know you don’t wander into the kitchen and tell the chef he needs more salt in the sauce. And once you’ve hired a great band, you wouldn’t dream of going onstage and telling the pianist to play with more staccato. We let those pros do their job. So it should be with the auctioneer.

Granted, some information should be shared prior to the event. The auctioneer will likely ask for that information. I typically ask questions about the value of the item, the history of the donor, details about any consignment packages, and so forth. But once I’ve got that information, opening bids fall into my job responsibility.

Trust your auctioneer to use his or her judgment on running the auction. And if all else fails, remember this: your guests only remember the sale price anyway.

Sherry Truhlar of Red Apple Auctions is an auction educator and award-winning benefit auctioneer who works nationally overseeing about 50 auctions annually. As an entertaining teacher, her popular “how to design your auction” webinars, DVDs, and reports are used by thousands of planners who want to procure big ticket items, simplify volunteer management, and properly run silent auctions, raffles, and Fund a Needs. She offers many FREE resources to planners, including her popular Item Guide, which is updated annually. Grab your copy at www.RedAppleAuctions.com

Helping Busy Moms Stay Chic

Thanks to Peachy Magazine for this fabulous guest post!

Too busy to shop? Life can be hectic and that often means that staying chic is the last thing on your mind. Peachy is here to help! Our experts have put together several looks to take you through your busy week in style.

Each week , Peachy the Magazine’s style experts share fashion trends and classic favorites. Subscribers receive twice-weekly newsletters featuring exclusive Look of the Week and Splurge or Steal style edits to help keep you looking your best. In addition, our bi-monthly digital magazine will take you inside gorgeous homes, walk you through verdant gardens, entice you with delicious food and drinks, introduce you to beautiful art and architecture, and much more.

Your FREE subscription to Peachy the Magazine includes exclusive email content. Subscribe today using the button below and receive the Best of Peachy recipe collection PDF which contains twenty-four of our favorite cocktail, appetizer and dessert recipes.

Click the button below to receive your free subscription to Peachy the Magazine. In addition to the bi-monthly magazine, you will receive our twice-weekly style newsletters and the exclusive Best of Peachy recipe collection PDF.

Cheers to Penny Senften, Manhattan Arts Center

The Manhattan Arts Center touches its community in more ways than one. The organization promotes the arts and orchestrates several events for community members. Penny Senften shares how MAC relies on VolunteerSpot to lend a helping hand with their volunteer work!

MAC After School Arts Club

Tell us about your organization and volunteer needs.

We are a volunteer-driven community arts center with a very small staff. Volunteers run most of our programs. Our programs include community theatre, a music series, children’s programs, gallery exhibits, educational programs and outreach programs. Some of our 200 or so volunteers have been with us for years, some come to help with one program and then move on. They help with office work, organize and hang gallery exhibits and arrange opening receptions, cover the front-of-house tasks for theatre and music events (house manager, box office, ushers), plan and carry out special events, and much more!

Explain how you use VolunteerSpot to coordinate these volunteers.

We e-mail specific groups of volunteers who have an interest in a particular program – e.g. theatre, or gallery exhibits - and ask them to sign up either online or through the office. The tasks range manning the box office and ushering to staffing our galleries on Saturdays and helping with sales during our annual art exhibit and sale. Some tasks involve less than an hour, some several hours, although we break up longer stints to make them more manageable. We also gained several excellent volunteers through our website.

Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?

Signing up with VolunteerSpot is easy and gives volunteers control. They can check their own commitments, swap times, and also receive a reminder. No password is needed! It’s easy for the coordinator to set up, and the “group pages” are excellent as volunteers can see what other volunteer opportunities an organization has.

What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?

Volunteering has to be enjoyable and rewarding. We want our volunteers to be here when they can and want to be here. And you can’t say “thank you” too many times!

Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your organization or volunteering?

Not everyone wants to use an online system, so we always include the opportunity to call or e-mail the office and have us do the online part. We also like all messages to volunteers to be personal, so have the coordinator sign them by name.

We salute Penny and all the other teachers and volunteers making a difference in their communities. Check out how VolunteerSpot’s Volunteer Software can save you time and stress and boost parent involvement in your school. Take a tour today!

Big-Hearted Projects for your Spring Bucket List

Did your resolutions for 2015 snuggle in for a long winter nap, never to awake? If your good intentions were overtaken by the gray malaise of winter, now is the time to dust them off. Spring is here, and along with it, the renewed verve and optimism we’ve all been waiting for.

Below are some of our favorite ideas for volunteering as a family this spring.

Pin them! Add them to your spring bucket list. And don’t forget to return to our links for conversation starters, book recommendations, and tips to make the most of each meaningful family moments.

Plant a Row for the Hungry. This is April’s Project of the Month! If you’ve ever wanted to try gardening with your child, this project may be the way to hook them. Most food pantries are delighted to receive freshly picked and cleaned produce. Sharing your bounty may make the magic of tending a garden even more meaningful.

Host a May Day Prep Party. May 1st is fast approaching and it has the potential to become a family favorite. Kids will have fun creating colorful baskets filled with treats, real or paper flowers, and sweet, anonymous notes. And they love sneaking out of the house a bit early on May Day to leave surprises on their neighbors’ doorsteps. By gathering a few friends to create May Day baskets together, you’ll share the cost and the fun.

Get Fit for a Cause. Whether you’re a runner or you love someone who is, getting your family out to support a charity run can be a rewarding experience for everyone. Sign up to race together and raise donations as a family. Or sponsor and cheer for a racer you know.

Spread Cheer with Old School Work. Don’t recycle those stacks of student art (all above average, of course!). Try this school-year-end tradition instead. Ask your kids to sort the drawings and artwork they’ve created over the year into three piles: keep, recycle, and mail to Color-a-Smile. This great organization will use them to cheer up nursing home residents, soldiers overseas, and anyone else in need of a smile.

Pick up our May Book Club Selection - Two Old Potatoes and Me: Bewitching illustrations will help this story worm its way onto your list of favorites. Our enrichment materials will help you explore the ideas of patience, creating something new from something old, and the many ways we can connect with family members. Then start a gardening project that may be just as fruitful.

It seems we began with a spring bucket list and concluded with summer planning, but we all know how fast this season of renewal lasts. Make the most of it! By choosing a project that interests you and putting it on the calendar now, you’ll be sure to make some lasting, meaningful memories from now through the end of summer.

Sarah Aadland, MPP, Directs Doing Good Together’s Big-Hearted Families™ program and shares the trials and tribulations of her family’s kindness practice on the organization’s blog.

Coordinating Volunteer Appreciation Events | National Volunteer Week

Planning a special event for National Volunteer Week? Whether for a party or luncheon, free online sign-ups will save you (and your volunteers) time in getting coordinated for delicious fun!

Use VolunteerSpot's intuitive scheduling and communication tools to quickly set up what needs to be brought for the lunch and where you need participants; invite them to sign up 24/7 from their computer or smartphone, and rely on eCalendar syncing and automated reminders to keep everyone on track! Get started

See how easy it is to set-up your Appreciation Luncheon sign-up in this quick video:

Cheers to Steve Fendt, Volunteer Coordinator, Lawrence, KS

Please tell us about your organization and your volunteer needs:

Theatre Lawrence partners with volunteers to create and deliver extraordinary theatre and education programs that engage community members of all ages and backgrounds as audience members and participants. We utilize approximately 500 volunteers each year that produces more than 33,000 hours of volunteerism. We use our volunteers in many different areas from acting on stage, working in the scene shop, as well as front of house and daytime office help selling tickets. We currently have 20-25 different types of volunteer positions available and many of them have multiple positions needed to run a production

Explain how you use VolunteerSpot to coordinate these volunteers.

We mainly use VolunteerSpot to allow our house volunteers to sign up online and maintain a current list of our volunteers. Our main stage does six events each year and each event does 10-14 performances. Each performance requires 23 volunteers for just the front of house, so a typical run would require volunteers to fill more than 250 positions. VolunteerSpot also allows us to get information out to those volunteers should something need to be communicated to them.

Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?

We were doing our sign up’s manually and we needed to streamline our signup process. Coming from another venue, I knew that there were programs out there and started researching. Being a non-profit, we didn’t have money to spare so we looked into the least expensive way of signing up our volunteers online. VolunteerSpot had the components that we needed at that time and has been a great asset to our volunteer program!

What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?

Volunteering is very rewarding and is great fun. After a while you become part of family that share some of the same interests. Leaders search out other organizations in your area, they can be a great asset and source of information in attracting new volunteers. Also remember to take the time to thank your volunteers, they deserve to be recognized for their continuous support!

Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your organization or volunteering?

I have been a volunteer coordinator in some manner for the past 13 years and now that I have retired, I still enjoy working with people that love to give their time and energy to help organizations like Theatre Lawrence. The support of our volunteers and the citizens of Lawrence have kept the theatre alive and we hope to bring live theatre to the community for a long time to come.

We salute Steve and all the other volunteers making a difference in their communities. Check out how VolunteerSpot’s Volunteer Software can save you time and stress and boost parent involvement in your school. Take a tour today!

Join us for a fun webinar and learn how to simplify Teacher Appreciation Week planning, how to find fresh teacher celebration ideas, and how to get more school parents involved in the week’s festivities!

3. Coordinate Help Online: Use VolunteerSpot to coordinate Teacher Appreciation luncheons and potlucks! Quickly schedule what needs to be brought for the lunch and where you need parent volunteers; invite parents to sign up 24/7 from their computer or smartphone, and rely on eCalendar syncing and automated reminders to keep everyone on track! Get started

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4. Choose a Theme: Themes are the best way to incorporate creativity and get more parents involved with your Teacher Appreciation week events. We love this Picnic theme from Sand Lake Elementary PTA in Florida! More ideas here

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5. Plan a Group Gift: Now is the time to get class parents in on a group gift your teacher will never forget! From spa items, to movie night goodies, fun cooking and gardening knick knacks, you name it - a great theme, input from lots of class families and tons of love will make this teacher gift rock! Check out 10 Teacher Gift Basket Ideas here